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| Special Edition board marking the 50th Anniversary of Thunderbirds |
It was a warm, muggy night as we gathered yesterday for the latest meeting of the Monopoly Club.
The theme of the board was Thunderbirds (chosen by Clare), and Rachel found a suitable Thunderbirds playlist on Spotify to add a music bed to the game via the kitchen's Alexa speaker.
The theming of the board was nicely done, with the properties being actual locations from the 1960's Gerry Anderson "Supermarionation" show.
Our only quibble was the design choice to make the printing of the board's outer ring seemingly low-res, meaning the the tiny white type under the name of each location, which told you the episode where it was featured, was often barely legible.
From the get-go, Pete and Clare were off like gangbusters, while I lagged behind as usual.
However, Rachel's "you don't have to buy everything" approach - and her prolonged, early stay in jail - had the unusual outcome that by the time she finished her first lap there were only three properties left available and she owned none.
And soon after that those were snapped up... just not by Rachel!
Of course, this did mean she was financially very well off and soon gathering properties from the rest of us when we started to experience money troubles or simply wanted to do a deal.
The same locale almost finished Rachel off as well, but she hung in for a while longer before being finally forced into bankruptcy, leaving Pete with a very definitive victory.
This saw him leap to the top of the leaderboard (see below), just nudging me off the top spot due to the fact that he has more second placings.
Clare has slipped to third place, but is nipping at my heels and has the technical advantage in "ties" of having played less games (as Nick subbed in for her one week).
Now with a second place on her docket, Rachel is gaining momentum but still sitting in fourth place, ahead of Nick, who has only played once.
As we've all chosen a board theme now, it's back to Pete to pick what flavour of Monopoly we play next.
We await his announcement with bated breath...
Picking from the pool of available metal tokens, I took the role of Lady Penelope's Rolls Royce, Pete was Thunderbird 5 (the space station), Rachel was Thunderbird 1 (the rocket), and Clare chose the submersible Thunderbird 4.
The oppressive atmosphere meant that none of us were exactly bringing our A-game to the table, but we still had a blast.
The oppressive atmosphere meant that none of us were exactly bringing our A-game to the table, but we still had a blast.
From the get-go, Pete and Clare were off like gangbusters, while I lagged behind as usual.
However, Rachel's "you don't have to buy everything" approach - and her prolonged, early stay in jail - had the unusual outcome that by the time she finished her first lap there were only three properties left available and she owned none.
And soon after that those were snapped up... just not by Rachel!
Of course, this did mean she was financially very well off and soon gathering properties from the rest of us when we started to experience money troubles or simply wanted to do a deal.
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| Rachel's ingenious 'cash rich/property poor' approach almost won the day for her |
Very quickly though it became clear that Pete's property portfolio was becoming the dominant force on the board, with rows of houses and then hotels popping up in annoyingly inconvenient (and expensive) places.
Pete's Atalante Café in Paris - with a hotel on - did for both Clare and I, with Clare going out first soon followed by me.The same locale almost finished Rachel off as well, but she hung in for a while longer before being finally forced into bankruptcy, leaving Pete with a very definitive victory.
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| Alice was Pete's lucky mascot for the evening |
This saw him leap to the top of the leaderboard (see below), just nudging me off the top spot due to the fact that he has more second placings.
Clare has slipped to third place, but is nipping at my heels and has the technical advantage in "ties" of having played less games (as Nick subbed in for her one week).
Now with a second place on her docket, Rachel is gaining momentum but still sitting in fourth place, ahead of Nick, who has only played once.
As we've all chosen a board theme now, it's back to Pete to pick what flavour of Monopoly we play next.
We await his announcement with bated breath...
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| SCORING: Win: 5pts; Second: 3pts; Third: 2pts; Fourth: 1pt |